Should a parent ever be forced to vaccinate their children? Mum who refused immunisations is overruled by court

The High Court has ruled that a vegan mother should vaccinate her sons [Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/dpa, Lukas Schulze]

You might think the decision about whether to vaccinate your children would lie with the parents, but a vegan mother has been ordered to give her sons routine vaccinations after the High Court overruled her objections.

The mum-of-two, who cannot be named, is so opposed to giving her children everyday medicines that she refuses to even give her children Calpol when they are poorly.

Having objected to giving her sons routine vaccinations, the mum was told by a High Court judge that she must comply with an order from the Court of Protection to have them vaccinated.

“I am truly sorry that the mother will regard the decision as wrong, but my objective duty is clear,” High Court Judge Mark Rodgers said of the ruling that was made in December and published yesterday.

“I have serious concerns as to her ability to look objectively and even-handedly.”

The mum also objects to her sons having conventional medicines [Photo: Rex]

She told the court that her two boys, aged four and two, were healthy children who “are fed only natural products.” She also assed that the boys’ “bodies are as free of toxins as I can possibly make them.”

The mother believes that her older son, who had been vaccinated against some diseases, had suffered with a cough, eczema and cradle cap as a result, which is why she was suspicious of administering further vaccinations.

But the judge ruled that she must allow for them to be vaccinated for their own sake and for the good of the general public. The order means the two boys will be given injections against diseases including diphtheria, polio, meningitis, measles, mumps and rubella when they reach the correct age for vaccination.

Responding to the ruling the mum said: “What I have learned simply is that, yes, vaccines do work some of the time, but there is a definite risk with vaccination. The vaccine manufacturers have cited that vaccines are “unavoidably unsafe”.”

“There is a very rare risk that either of the children will ever catch one of the diseases listed in this report,” she continued. “Both children are thriving and have strong immune systems which definitely helps in protecting them from diseases.”

She went on to add that being a vegan had influenced her desire to refuse the vaccinations.

“No vaccine is vegan. No doctor will criticise the actions of a vaccine or he or she will be afraid of losing their job.”

“It is not natural to be injected with metal elements and as a vegan it goes against my beliefs for my children to be injected with something that is grown on animal cells or something that has been tested on animals.”

The mother certainly isn’t the only parent who doesn’t agree with giving their kids routine vaccinations. Last year Yahoo Style reported on the off-grid family whose unusual style of parenting means they don’t believe children need vaccinations, doctors or official schooling.

The off grid parents also object to giving their children Calpol [Photo: Rex]

Appearing on an episode of This Morning to discuss their out-there method of child-rearing, Matt and Adele Allen, from Brighton explained why they refuse to vaccinate children Ulysses, five and Ostara, one. And like the mother above, their free-spirited parenting also means they shun conventional medicines, such as Calpol in favour of more natural treatments. Even when their children were suffering from chicken pox and scarlet fever.

“We treated it naturally. We believe in the body to self heal,” she told presenters Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes. “If you support the body’s healing through supplements and herbs then it will heal.”

“I don’t believe that bringing a fever down artificially helps the body. I believe a fever is there for a purpose to clean the body out.”